Order of Service / Creation 1 / September 8, 2024

 *Gathering Hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful (#291 VU | vs. 1,2)

Welcome& Land Acknowledgement

Lighting the Christ Candle

Call to Worship

One: This is the day that God has made.

  All: Let us give thanks to God for this day.

One: We are gathered in and among Creation that God has entrusted to us.

All: Let us give thanks to God for this created world.

One: Let us use this day wisely and care for God’s created world.

All: As we worship, we ask God to empower us to be responsible stewards of Creation and all that is in it.

*Catherine Tovell. Gathering Pentecost 2, 2024. Page 27.

Opening Prayer

*Profession of Our Faith (Unison)

God is creative and self-giving,

          generously moving

          in all the near and distant corners of the universe.

Nothing exists that does not find its source in God.

Our first response to God’s providence is gratitude.

We sing thanksgiving.

 

Finding ourselves in a world of beauty and mystery,

          of living things, diverse and interdependent,

          of complex patterns of growth and evolution,

          of subatomic particles and cosmic swirls,

we sing of God the Creator,

the Maker and Source of all that is.

 

Each part of creation reveals unique aspects of God the Creator,

          who is both in creation and beyond it.

All parts of creation, animate and inanimate, are related.

All creation is good.

We sing of the Creator,

          who made humans to live and move

          and have their being in God.

In and with God,

          we can direct our lives toward right relationship

          with each other and with God.

We can discover our place as one strand in the web of life.

We can grow in wisdom and compassion.

We can recognize all people as kin.

We can accept our mortality and finitude, not as a curse,

          but as a challenge to make our lives and choices matter.

 

Made in the image of God,

we yearn for the fulfillment that is life in God. Amen.

*from A Song of Faith, A faith statement of the United Church of Canada

*Passing the Peace of Christ

*Opening Hymn Praise with Joy the World’s Creator (#312 VU)

Announcements and Minute for Mission

Time for God’s Children (Know that God is Good / MV #104)

Know that God is good, know that God is good,

know that God is God, God is good, God is good.

Prayer for Illumination

Proclaiming the Scriptures

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 A good name rather than riches.

Psalm 125 (VU p. 849) Do good, O God, to those who are good.

Mark 7:24-30 The Syrophoenician woman’s faith challenges Jesus.

This is the Good News from the Bible.

  Thanks be to God.

Anthem

Sermon

*Hymn Creating God, Your Fingers Trace (#265 VU)

*Offering

*Offertory Hymn (Tune: #374VU)

Acts of kindness, times for sharing; bringing Christ to human need.

Caring for the least among us; simple actions plant the seed.

By our giving and forgiving, work a miracle of love.

Holy presence to us offered; Praise the One who reigns above.

*Offertory Prayer (Unison)

Loving God, we have shared our gifts in the hope that they will be a witness to others of your coming commonwealth, when your vision of Creation will be fulfilled and restored. Amen.

*Sandy Ferguson, Gathering Pentecost 2, 2024. Page 31.

Prayers of the People and Lord’s Prayer

*Closing Hymn We Praise You, Creator (#293 VU)

*Commissioning

One: The wisdom of God is with us and with all creatures.

  All: We will share God’s creative power wherever we go.

One: The promise of God is for us and for all creatures.

  All: We embody God’s renewing power wherever we are.

One: Go in peace, to love, laugh, dance, and wonder in creation.

  All: Thanks be to God. Amen!

*Commissioning Song Peace be with You (#215 VU)

Peace be with you, peace forever, peace be with you my friends.

Till we meet again, may God be with you. Peace, peace, peace.

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